Last week the Tax Foundation released report which provides a means for states to get away from a pernicious practice, one which many folks might be surprised to learn about. Most people think of property taxes as merely dealing with land and the structures on it,…
Daily Analysis
Amusing California Satire by Walter Williams, but What if Gov. Brown Takes It Seriously?
I periodically mock the crazy statists of California. The state is almost surely doomed to suffer a Greek-style fiscal chaos. The only unknown is whether Illinois will beat the Golden State into default. The politicians in Sacramento impose very high taxes to fund a…
The Laffer Curve Strikes Again: Revenues Falling in Spite of (or Perhaps Because of) Spain’s Punitive Corporate Tax Rate
I’ve shared evidence from around the world (England, Italy, the United States, and France) and from various states (Illinois, Oregon, Florida,Maryland, and New York) to argue that it is foolish to ignore the Laffer Curve. Not that it makes any difference. I’m slowly…
How Will Economic Freedom Fare in Honduras?
Would you want to live in a city with no income, sales or capital gains taxes? Well you can soon move to Honduras and get your chance: Small government and free-market capitalism are about to get put to the test in Honduras, where the government has agreed to let an…
Another Push for Global Taxation from the United Nations
I spoke at the United Nations back in May, explaining that more government was the wrong way to help the global economy. But I guess I’m not very persuasive. The bureaucrats have just released a new report entitled, “In Search of New Development Finance.” As you can…
Tax Havens Like the Cayman Islands Have Better Fiscal Policy…and More Diligent Enforcement of Laws against Dirty Money and Terrorist Financing
Since I’m probably the foremost defender of tax havens in the United States, I tend to get a lot of press inquiries whenever something happens that brings attention to these low-tax jurisdictions. In recent months, almost all of the media calls have been because…
Just as “Fair Trade” Means Protectionism for the Benefit of Special Interests, “Fair Tax Competition” Means Tax Harmonization for the Benefit of Politicians
Very few people are willing to admit that they favor protectionism. After all, who wants to embrace a policy associated with the Great Depression? But people sometimes say “I want free trade so long as it’s fair trade.” In most cases, they’re simply protectionists who…
The French Version of Atlas Shrugged
Ayn Rand’s famous novel, Atlas Shrugged, tells the story of what happens when society’s most productive people go on strike because they don’t want to subsidize the looters and moochers. I won’t give away the plot, but one interesting twist in the story is when…
Jurisdictional Competition Is Why the West Became Rich While Asia Languished
During the dark ages, nations like China were relatively advanced while Europeans were living in squalid huts. But that began to change several hundred years ago. Europe experienced the enlightenment and industrial revolution while the empires of Asia languished. What…
Study from German Economists Shows that Tax Competition and Fiscal Decentralization Limit Income Redistribution
If we want to avoid the kind of Greek-style fiscal collapse implied by this BIS and OECD data, we need some external force to limit the tendency of politicians to over-tax and over-spend. That’s why I’m a big advocate of tax competition, fiscal sovereignty, and…